1. Field of the Invention
Multi-part gas burners that are used for outdoor cooking, for instance as so-called side-burners on barbeques, normally need to be dismantled and cleaned before they can be ignited after a rain. This is due to the fact that multi-part gas burners predominately have an indentation in the burner base to receive and center the so-called burner ring and rain water, and/or dirt particles collect in this indentation.
Normally these burners have a smaller flame ring underneath the main flame port openings. This smaller flame ring serves as a sort of a support flame for the main flame. This support flame prevents the main flame from being separated from the burner. Customarily the relatively small amount of gas for the support flame is conducted from the side, or from below through the walls or below the walls, from a groove going around in the burner ring resting in the burner base to the outside.
A primary disadvantage of burner designs of this sort, is that the openings for this ring of support flame, also called auxiliary gas, which goes around the outside of the burner, can become clogged with rain water or dirt particles. When the ring is clogged in this manner the normal result is that the burner cannot be re-ignited without first cleaning the openings of dirt and/or rain water. A further disadvantage with the burners currently found on today""s market is that they are quite difficult to clean, since their design makes dismantling difficult if not complicated.
In burners found in today""s market, the current method of supplying primary air to the burner jet which creates a flammable gas-air mixture, presents an additional problem, or requires a special technology to supply primary air. The additional problem is the size of the hole in the jet. This is a problem because, the size of the hole in the burner jet is pre-set for the maximum necessary flow of gas for the maximum burner output. The maximum flow for the maximum burner output is basically too great a gas flow for the lower settings of the burner. At present, this is unavoidable from a design standpoint, and results in the flow pressure of the lesser amount of gas for the low setting being much less than for the maximum setting. Since this gas flow jet is installed below the actual burner and is thus exposed to wind from the side, it frequently occurs that the flow of gas through the jet is displaced sideways, and the burner goes out.
In order to prevent this sideways displacement of the flow of gas from the jet, other burner designs for this reason, have provided the jet with a round, closed housing (burner base) in the lower part of the burner. By designing the burner base in this manner, the drawing of primary air now is from above the edge of the closed housing surrounding the jet and downward. Even in this type of design a side wind can cause rain water to penetrate into the housing over the upper edge. If sufficient rainwater collects, this would close the relatively small hole in the gas flow jet. The current procedure to prevent water and dirt from accumulating in the burner base is the introduction of a so-called rain-runoff opening (hole) in the base of the housing. This provides a passageway for the rainwater and dirt that normally accumulate in the burner base which is customarily closed in the base and side walls.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The use of a multi-part gas burner is known in the prior art.
Prior art U.S. Pat. No. 6,146,132, by the same inventor as in this applications, reveals a multi piece gas burner assembly that is machined or cast and has a burner base that contains holes for primary air where the hole dimensions do not exceed the height of a jet mounted therein. The burner base is fastened onto an appliance. The burner head rests upon a boss on the burner base and has a tube that directs a flammable gas-air mixture from the burner base into a cavity created between the burner head and the burner cap. The burner cap rests upon the burner head and contains an outer edge that is turned downwards in order to allow fluid to drip away from the flame. A groove is cut into the burner cap just inside the down turned outer edge and provides a location for a support flame. The location of the groove prevents fluid and dust from collecting inside the groove. The groove captures the flammable gas-air mixture, which provides a constant ignition source for the gas-air mixture through slots in the burner cap when ignited.
Prior art U.S. Pat. No. 5,865,615 discloses an improved burner for a gas range used in the home. The basis of this invention is to provide an improved capability for the owner of this type of burner to clean the range without using special tools, as was necessary prior the to creation of the invention disclosed in this patent.
Prior art U.S. Pat. No. 5,704,777 discloses an improve gas burner for cooking in outdoors settings. The purpose of this invention is to provide improved resistance to the effects of winds that typically could cause a disruption of the flame. This invention discloses a burner screen that allows the air-fuel mixture, which is sub-stoichiometric in nature, to pass through the screen and mix with surrounding ambient air, thus creating a stoichiometric air-fuel mixture that will burn. The burner screen is protected from ambient wind currents by being installed within a burner cup, which is sub flush to the top surface of the burner cup. When a cooking pot is used on the burner, it helps to significantly reduce the effects of wind on the burner""s flame.
Prior art U.S. Pat. No. 5,623,917 discloses a gas burner assembly that is easily removed and is secured to the top panel of a range by using a mounting bracket, which locks the burner assembly in place and prevents rotation of the burner assembly.
Prior art U.S. Pat. No. 5,468,145 discloses a sealed gas burner that has an improved spark ignition system that will eliminate the problem of a non-consistent spark, which increases the reliability of ignition of the air-gas mixture. An additional benefit of this invention is the protection of the igniter electrode from damage due to food spills.
Prior art U.S. Pat. No. 5,323,759 discloses a sealed gas burner mounting assembly which allows easy assembly, disassembly, and adjustment of the burners after maintenance has been performed. The patent also discloses one piece burner heads with integral gas pipes affixed onto them.
The purpose of the present invention is to provide a burner assembly that has improved resistance to dirt and moisture intrusion into the supporting flame groove of the burner assembly.
It is a further purpose of the invention to provide an improved burner assembly that can operate efficiently at low temperature settings in 10 mile per hour (MPH) winds.
Another purpose of the invention is to provide an improved burner assembly that is capable of operating in a rainy environment without extinguishing the flame.
The present invention consists of a multi-piece burner assembly which is comprised of a cast, or machined burner base, which is attached to an appliance top using screws, rivets or other mechanical fastening means. The upper portion of the burner assembly, which is named a burner head, consists of a cast or machined structure that provides a passage for a gas-air mixture from the burner base to the top surface of the burner head. The burner head is designed to overlap the burner base and is loosely attachable by being positioned with a multiplicity of cut-outs to a complementary multiplicity of bosses integral to the burner base.
The top of the burner assembly consists of a burner cap or flame spreader cap. The burner cap consists of a groove for a support flame, a lip that allows liquid to drip away from the support flame groove, an annular ring that provides a multiplicity of large and small holes for flame and an additional boss for the burner cap to connect with the upper portion of the burner assembly.
This invention is an improvement over U.S. Pat. No. 6,146,132. The improvements include substantially simplifying the parts and making the alignment of the parts visible to the end user by relocating the positioning bosses to the outer edge of the burner assembly.
In addition, the burner cap completely overlaps the outer edge of the burner head, instead of positioning it in place with small detents as in U.S. Pat. No. 6,146,132, which makes positioning of the burner cap simpler.
A third advantage of the current invention is that small and large holes are drilled in an annular burner ring""s wall on the outer edge of the flame spreader cap. The small holes are provided to support the flame in a xe2x80x9ccoldxe2x80x9d burner (e.g. in winter time at xe2x88x9230xc2x0 F.) so that the flames don""t tend to tear off around the edge. By means of rapid warming in the zone of these small holes, it is assured that the flames from the larger holes located above the smaller holes won""t tear off in a breeze or wind.